Mr.
El’s fourth graders had just returned to class from Miss
Congo’s music class. As soon as all the kids were in their
seats, he asked Summer to pass out some papers.“I just
finished copying these math papers for you guys,” he said as
he walked to the front of the classroom.“Mr. El,
there are hundreds of problems here!” Christopher wailed.“Actually,
there are only twenty math computation examples,” Mr. El
replied. “As you can see, all of them require multiplying two
digit numbers times three digit numbers. Simple as a pimple. Or should
I say ‘dimple’?”Brian waved his
hand. Mr. El nodded at him. “Do we
have to do all twenty examples?”“Let me
put it this way,” Mr. El replied, “Yes.”Chelsey held her
calculator in the air. “Can we use these?” she
asked hopefully.“You
won’t need them. I’ve printed all the answers on
the back of each worksheet.”A cheer went up
from the class. However, Erin did not cheer. Her brown eyes stared
intently at the teacher as she raised her hand.“Yes, my
flower, do you have a question?” Mr. El asked.“What’s
the catch?”Mr. El answered
with a straight face. “Erin, you’re such a cynic.
Couldn’t it be just because your dear teacher loves you?
Couldn’t it be because I want to see all your little faces
glowing with happiness?”“No, Mr.
El,” Erin scowled.“OK,
here’s the catch. Just in case anyone might tend to rush
through his or her work and not worry about whether an answer is
correct, that person can’t claim to be unaware of a
mistake.”“But we
can just copy the right answers,” John called out.“Well,”
Mr. El responded, “you know how you have to multiply twice
and then add the two products to get the complete product?
I’ll be checking those two numbers that are above the final
answer.”A chorus of groans
rose from the class.Mr. El smiled
broadly. “Isn’t it perfect?” he asked. “But,
dear teacher, think of all the numbers you’ll have to check,” Erin said with mock
concern. “It will take you forever to correct all our
papers.”Mr. El was trying
not to look too pleased with himself, but he couldn’t
suppress his smile. “Not exactly. I’m going to
choose five examples randomly and only correct those. Your scores will
be based on how well you do on those five examples. But, sad to say,
you guys won’t know which five examples I’ll choose
until after you’re done.”A faint voice
could be heard from the back row. “The teacher is
evil,” it said.Mr. El grinned.
“And remember, flattery will get you nowhere.”